This post explains what a security interest is, how it is used, and why it is significant.

A security interest is an interest in an asset that is intended to secure performance of an obligation. Typically, the obligation that is secured is payment of a debt.

Terminology: The person who owes money is called the debtor. The person to whom money is owed is the creditor.

Many of us grant a security interestwhen we buy a house. In exchange for providing money for the purchase, the lender receives a mortgage (or, in California, a deed of trust). This is a type of security interest.(more…)

This post is based on a Quora question in which a user who already had invested money in his corporation wanted to know how he can invest an additional amount. My answer, reproduced below almost verbatim, starts by summarizing the steps for an initial equity investment.

Let’s assume you did your startup paperwork properly: The board of directors approved issuing some or all of the corporation’s authorized shares to you in exchange of payment of certain consideration; you deposited that consideration into the corporation’s bank account; the secretary recorded your share ownership on the corporation’s share transfer ledger and issued a share certificate to you.

Dana Shultz is a business-savvy lawyer located in Northern California's San Francisco Bay Area (in the East Bay, near Oakland) who has in-depth knowledge of law, business, technology, and the needs of startup and early-stage companies.